Chapter 378 The Path to the Nascent Soul (Part 3)
The country of Sang is located on the border of the Central Territory of the Great Abyss. There is a Yuanying Sect force in the country, which is controlled by two early Yuanying sects.
Due to the fortune divination of "lucky stars shining high", Lu Changan slowed down his travels here.
About half a month.
As a traveling businessman, Lu Changan received his first mission.
There are dozens of spiritual veins distributed in the Ivy Mountains, and they are dotted with large and small immortal cultivating families.
Among the rugged and winding mountain roads.
A middle-aged businessman with a sallow complexion, carrying a large suitcase and cage on his back, was travel-stained.
On the left and right side of him were a green-armored guard and an inconspicuous yellow-haired native dog.
Woof!
The native dog at his feet suddenly barked softly and looked at the other side of the mountain.
The sound of breaking through the sky roared.
A five-foot-long magic weapon spirit boat swayed past the sky.
"Father, we still have twenty miles to reach Heishafang City."
On the spirit boat, Tao Wenjun was half-kneeling, with a pale face and gradually losing his magic power, controlling the flying boat at his feet.
"Wenjun, don't hold on. You are at the sixth level of Qi refining, and it is very difficult for you to control a high-grade flying boat. When you get to Fangshi, you only need to convey the news..."
Father Tao struggled to open his eyes, his hall was black and green, and he was as angry as a gossamer, explaining the funeral.
Tao Wenjun had tears in his eyes, his magic power and consciousness were approaching the limit. The speed of the flying boat was getting slower and slower, the shaking became more obvious, and it looked like it was about to fall at any time.
Tao Wenjun gritted his silver teeth tightly and was about to forcefully activate the blood essence again when he glanced at the wandering businessman on the mountain road below from the corner of his eye.
As if she had grasped a life-saving straw, she felt overjoyed and controlled the flying boat to land on the middle-aged traveling businessman.
"Senior, does this senior have any elixir for sale that can heal wounds and overcome disasters?"
Tao Wenjun landed as the flying boat landed. Fengyun's delicate body was unsteady and her hair was messy. She wanted to stand up and salute, but she fell to her knees weakly.
"Wenjun, don't be gullible..."
Tao's father felt uneasy when he saw the unfamiliar trio of traveling merchants. At this moment, the two of them have almost lost their ability to protect themselves. If they encounter a bad person...
Tao Wenjun also realized this and felt a chill in his heart.
puff!
At this time, Tao's father vomited out a mouthful of black and bruised blood and passed out.
Lu Changan glanced at the beautiful, pale and helpless young woman, then stepped forward to explore Tao's father's injury.
"The internal organs are severely damaged, evil spirits are lingering, and the spirit and energy are depleted..."
Lu Changan pondered for a moment and took out a suet porcelain bottle from the cage (large storage bag) behind his back.
"This is a second-grade high-grade rejuvenation pill."
He first fed Tao's father the healing elixir, then stretched out his green palm and patted his back gently.
Soon, a cold and dark mist floated over Father Tao's body.
After waiting for a while, Tao's father took the rejuvenation pill, his complexion improved a lot, his heartbeat stabilized, and he was out of danger.
"Thank you, senior, for helping me, I..."
Tao Wenjun's tense heart finally relaxed, and he bowed with gratitude on his face.
Through the treatment just now, she saw that this traveling merchant was an expert in the foundation-building stage and was proficient in medicine and pharmacology.
Otherwise, a second-level elixir alone would not be able to stabilize Father Tao's condition so quickly.
"It doesn't matter, Lu is a traveling merchant who just happened to meet me. The girl only needs to pay for the elixir and healing costs, and it's an equal transaction."
Lu Changan waved his hand and said humbly.
Tao Wenjun was startled and looked at the middle-aged traveling businessman with a sallow face and a shrewd smile. The halo of being an expert in his heart was shattered.
She pursed her lower lip and swallowed the words of gratitude in her mouth, such as "I have nothing to repay, I would like to be a cow or a horse in the next life, and wear a grass ring...".
Then we discussed business.
Tao Wenjun took out the spiritual stones, valuable magic weapons, and elixirs from the storage bag, but he showed a bitter and embarrassed expression.
The exorcism treatment from the foundation-building doctor, coupled with the second-level high-grade elixir, could not compensate for the empty supplies in her and her father's storage bags.
In desperation, Tao Wenjun almost took off his robe and used it to offset some of the spiritual stones, but it was still not enough.
"Senior Lu, if you add Ye Feizhou, can it be enough to compensate?"
At the critical moment, Tao's father woke up and said in a bitter tone.
"Can."
Lu Changan nodded. Although it was only a first-level high-grade flying boat, its value was much higher than that of a magical weapon of the same level.
Tao Wenjun hesitated to speak. Ye Feizhou was not owned by the father and daughter, but an asset of the family.
Because the family was in trouble, her father ran away with her and asked for reinforcements. In the process of breaking out, they were attacked by gangsters again, and they were surrounded by dangers.
After the transaction was completed, Lu Changan dusted himself off and prepared to leave.
"I beg you, senior, to help our Tao family. Once this is done, our foundation-building ancestor will be greatly grateful."
Father Tao, supported by his daughter, bowed and begged.
"I disappoint you two. As a traveling merchant, Lu will accept some transaction commissions, but he will not participate in the battle between the various forces."
Lu Changan declined apologetically.
"Senior Lu! This crisis for our clan is not a family dispute, but a lurking demon within the clan, breaking out in the family's forbidden area and wreaking havoc. It also happens to be a hostile evil monk who takes advantage of the situation..."
Tao's father explained urgently.
…
"Oh? A demon is lurking?"
Lu Changan thought it was an ordinary transaction entrustment, but he didn't expect that the matter was not simple.
When Lu Changan used the teleportation channel to reach the forbidden area in the Central Abyss, he encountered some demonized monsters.
Including the demonic Stone Heart Dragon that he once hunted, it was also considered one of them.
In the Great Abyss Immortal Realm, especially in the Central Realm, demons are not unfamiliar things.
The root of all this comes from the ancient forbidden land of the Central Territory. The endless demonic abyss at its center once sealed many monster giants.
Every few years, the endless demon abyss will have a demon tide leaking out, and some demons and monsters will escape from it and cause chaos in the abyss.
It is said that before Fairy Zixia and True Lord Yunlan became Taoist partners, their former brothers who were in love died in the demon chaos in the Central Region.
"What kind of cultivation aura did the demon that appeared in the Tao family have?"
Lu Changan asked the specific reason in a cautious tone.
"The aura of the demon is stronger than that of the general foundation-building period, and it should not be the Dan-forming period. However, there is more than one demon, otherwise our clan has a large formation to protect the clan, and the two foundation-building ancestors will not bring disaster to the clan."
Tao's father recalled and thought.
He kept an uncertain detail. When he left, the aura of the demons that were rampant in the clan seemed to be rising.
"Okay, you two stay here, and Lu will go over to take a look."
Lu Changan made a rough calculation and the demons of the Tao family should be historical remnants.
It is difficult to completely eliminate the demons and monsters that have caused chaos in the past. Some remnants remain, which are small demons and monsters.
This kind of situation occasionally occurs in various places in the Central Region.
In addition, on the eve of the start of the demon tide, the remnants of demons and monsters lurking in various places will also be ready to move.
Lu Changan simply stepped on the flying boat that he had just traded and headed to the Tao family's land.
In the clouds, Lu Changan tried to calculate the next demon and monster chaos. The secret was unclear, perhaps because the information medium was not enough.
"It shouldn't be that bad."
Lu Changan thought to himself, "In the past, the demon and monster disasters in the Central Region mostly occurred about sixty years after the opening of the Ancient Nether Palace."
Many high-level cultivators speculated that the demon and monster disasters may be related to the Ancient Nether Palace.
Because every time the Ancient Nether Palace is opened, you need to pay magic crystals to buy tickets.
A Yuanying Great Monk once warned the Central Region cultivators: exchanging magic crystals to enter the Ancient Nether Palace may bring uncontrollable and unknown risks to the Demon Abyss in the Central Region Forbidden Land.
Faced with the temptation of the opportunity of the Ancient Nether Palace, the leaders of various forces in the Central Region did not take it to heart.
Firstly, the demons that the Central Region experienced each time were generally controllable, and some scarce materials would be brought in the disaster. The strongest of those who escaped would often not exceed the middle stage of the fourth level, and they were murderous in nature and slightly inferior in intelligence to the cultivators of the same level.
Secondly, every time the demons rebelled, the top-level Yuanying Zhenjun rarely died, mainly because the number of Jindan and middle and lower-level cultivators was relatively large.
Even in some eras, the demons were extremely powerful and fled everywhere, radiating to the major domains of the Great Abyss, and the entire Great Abyss cultivation world shared the responsibility.
…
After a while, Lu Changan came to the Tao family's land and indeed sensed three demon auras.
The Tao family's second-level formation was in ruins, and the cultivators were either injured or killed, or fled.
Those demons had green faces and fangs, their limbs were like jackals, and they were surrounded by demonic energy. The strongest one among them was faintly approaching the fake Dan level.
After a killing spree, these demons wandered around the clan land, searching for the breath of survivors in the ruins of the buildings.
"It doesn't seem to be the breath of pure demons."
Lu Changan took a quick look and felt that the demonic energy contained a strong curse and yin energy, which made people tremble with fear.
Woof!
The yellow-haired big dog under his feet, with a layer of earthy yellow halo on its hair, passed through the nearby mountains, merged into the earth, and disappeared.
Huh!
Soon, a yellow sandstorm rose in the sky of the Tao family's land.
The three demons sensed something and fled in fear, but were soon wrapped in yellow sand and could not move like petrified.
After a burst of ghosts crying and wolves howling, it stopped abruptly.
The flying sand rolled up to the sky.
Lu Changan took over the three mottled magic cores and sensed the entangled gloomy ghost energy.
"Ghostly breath? Could it be that there is another real murderer behind this demon..."
Lu Changan's face was calm, and he asked the green armor guards to kill several evil cultivators who were lurking and spying nearby.
At this time, Di Yanjun had a harvest. He smelled some clues through the hidden ghost energy.
After a cup of tea.
Di Yanjun hid underground for a hundred miles and went deep into a dark underground mine.
This mine was bottomless and had been excavated for hundreds of years. It was the ore vein left by the Tao family and the previous owners.
Deep in the mine, there were piles of bones buried, and the yin and resentment were thick, and ghost fire was floating.
"A third-level demon dog dared to kill my men!"
In the abandoned ore, a silver-white skeleton burning with dark purple ghost fire gave a soul-stirring and piercing roar.
The ghost pressure emitted by this ghost creature seemed to have reached the peak of the middle stage of the third level, approaching the great repair of the elixir, but it was a little unstable.
"That's great, I just lack a third-level ghost pet!"
The silver-white skeleton stood up, and the dark purple ghost flames around it expanded, turning into a ghost spirit ten feet high, holding a bronze ghost weapon in each arm.
Swish!
The third-level early dog demon in the distance turned into a shadow that was difficult for the divine sense to capture, and it suddenly expanded several times in the pupil.
"No!"
A terrifying demonic breath made the silver-white skeleton ghost flame drift and howl in fear.
"Ah! The dignified fourth-level demon king actually-"
The surging ghost flames ten feet high shrank and shattered in an instant; the silver-white skeleton was caught by a claw as big as a palm leaf, and a crisp "click" sound came immediately.
A moment later.
A middle-aged merchant arrived at the original place quietly.
The claws of the khaki dog imprisoned a ball of dim purple fire remnant soul, like a flickering candlelight.
At its feet, there was a pile of broken bones, including two ghost magic weapons and a rusty storage bracelet.
"A third-level ghost cultivator has a space storage prop, and his origin seems to be not simple."
Lu Changan took the spoils presented by the khaki dog.
In addition to the ghost magic weapon, there are also some items in the storage bracelet, but most of them have lost their spirituality for unknown reasons.
In addition, there are several jade slips that record the inheritance of the ghost.
One of the complete ghost skills is called "Five Curses and Resentful Spirits Sutra", which requires collecting resentful spirits to increase the power of ghosts and spells.
"Such a harvest is not worthy of the auspicious sign of 'good luck'."
Lu Changan's face was calm and he put away the spoils and space storage props.
Such harvests have been encountered in the past few years of travel, and it is not rare.
At his level, the harvest that can be called a good opportunity must be at least the opportunity resource of the Nascent Soul level.
Then, Lu Changan searched the soul of the lurking ghost cultivator.
"It turned out to be a ghost cultivator who has just changed his cultivation..."
It is more difficult to search the soul of a ghost cultivator. Lu Changan cannot obtain complete memories, but he also knows the general origin of the other party.
This ghost cultivator was a late-stage True Dan cultivator of the Sang Kingdom's Nascent Soul Sect before his death. He had failed to form a Nascent Soul once.
Due to the limitation of his aptitude, he failed in the first step of forming a baby, "breaking the pill to transform into a baby", but luckily saved his life and most of his cultivation.
After the baby was hopeless, this boy rebelled against the sect and turned to practice the ghost cultivation method that he had seized.
The ghost cultivation method he mainly practiced came from the affiliated forces of the "Huangtian Ghost Palace" of the Northern Territory, and he is expected to practice to the level of the fourth-level ghost king.
Once he turns to ghost cultivation, his life span will be greatly extended, far exceeding that of humans and ordinary monsters.
However, the price is also great.
If he turns to ghost cultivation, he will not be able to enter reincarnation, which means there is no afterlife.
Secondly, the difficulty of ghost cultivation to become an immortal is much greater than that of normal cultivators, and he will suffer greater damage when facing the thunder of tribulation.
Lu Changan has the [Nine Seals Monument], and has no interest in the way of ghost cultivation. It is just a normal reserve and understanding.
In this way, the harvest this time is even more discounted. The most valuable thing is the bronze bracelet of the space storage tool.
"Huh!"
In the second half of the soul search, Lu Changan got a memory fragment.
A ghost cultivator, even if he was in the late stage of Jindan, could not have any secrets that would make Lu Changan excited.
However, there was a clue in the ghost cultivator's memory before his death that was extremely useful to Lu Changan.
Because he had attacked Yuanying before his death, this ghost cultivator had collected resources for forming Yuanying, and there was a clue to a superior spiritual object for forming Yuanying in his memory.
Not only that.
Such a superior spiritual object for forming Yuanying is extremely suitable for Lu Changan's wood element.
You should know that the [Ziwu Qingfeng] that Lu Changan extorted from the old ancestor Tianluo was a superior spiritual object for forming Yuanying, but it was not a wood element.
"The wood element spiritual object for forming Yuanying is in the hands of the first family of Sang Country, 'Heihebao'."
Lu Changan's heart was pounding.
If he could get such a suitable spiritual object for forming Yuanying, his preparation for forming Yuanying would be significantly strengthened!
The probability of forming Yuanying would be close to the limit!
This ghost cultivator could not obtain such a spiritual object for forming Yuanying before his death, and the attributes were not perfectly matched, so he gave up.
However, this matter was much easier for Lu Changan.
The first family of Sang country did not have a Yuanying Zhenjun in charge, and the strongest was in the late stage of Jindan.
However, the family was related to the Grand Elder of the "Tiancan Sect", the only Yuanying Sect in Sang country.
...
That night, Lu Changan disappeared in the area around the Tao family.
As for the reward for killing the demon, Lu Changan did not ask the Tao family for it, which was considered a good relationship.
The Tao family cultivators suffered heavy casualties, and the clan land was destroyed. It was hard to say whether they could keep the family business.
Lu Changan eliminated the evil cultivators who were hostile to the clan as a reward for obtaining clues to the opportunity.
After the matter was done, he left, hiding his identity.
In the following travels, Lu Changan changed his identity as an exception, and secretly investigated the information of "Heihe Fort" in Sang country, including clues to the spirit of the infant.
The information was beneficial to Lu Changan.
The great elder of Heihebao and the "Tiancan Sect" who is related to each other has entered his twilight years, and his life span is even more than a thousand years.
Now, this Yuanying Zhenjun has retreated to the second line in the sect.
According to the existing information, such wood-based infant spirit objects are planted in the forbidden medicine garden of Heihebao to increase and cultivate medicinal properties.
"Heihebao has a quasi-fourth-level formation and various hidden restrictions. It is difficult to take or sneak in, and it will alarm the Yuanying sect of Sangguo after the success."
Lu Changan thought for a long time and made up his mind.
He looked at Di Yanjun who was gnawing on the remains of the prey beside him with a gentle and kind look, and gently stroked the hair on the latter's head.
If you want to take the initiative in this transaction, Di Yanjun, who is good at earth escape and a fourth-level demon king, is a key.
Lu Changan is not in a hurry to take action.
This journey will take several years, so stay in Sangguo for a while and take it slowly.
...
Two months later.
The border of Sangguo's Xiuxian world.
A beam of Nascent Soul-level escaping light, like a snow-white silk, drew a dazzling white mark across the sky.
Until a certain moment, the cloud-white escaping light slowed down and hovered over the surrounding mountains.
"Fellow Daoist Xuancan, have you lost any trace of that person?"
Two people stood on the cloud-white escaping light. The black-skinned old man who spoke was the ancestor of Heihe Fort, the Heihe True Man who was in the late Jindan stage.
The other person was a white-browed old man with Nascent Soul cultivation, wearing a dark green robe and looking very depressed.
On the withered palm of Xuancan True Lord, a jade bottle floated, which contained a wisp of dark green breath in the shape of a water drop.
"That person has not exceeded the range of the breath tracking of [Spring Withered Vine]. However, his speed of escape is extremely fast, no less than that of this old man. Even if he is not a Yuanying Zhenjun, he has a powerful spiritual bird mount."
The dark eyes of Xuancan Zhenjun glowed with mysterious light, quietly maintaining the calculation and induction of "Xuancan Jiuming Pian".
This mysterious secret technique not only contains the divination technique of seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster, but also has a tracking ability beyond common sense.
Heihe Zhenren quickly calmed down after hearing this, and sighed:
"Forget it! This time, I troubled Daoist Xuanchan, not expecting to be able to recover [Spring Withered Vine]. It's just that I was threatened by that person and forced to make a deal, and I don't even know his identity, which makes people very annoyed."
Based on Heihe Zhenren's understanding of Xuancan Zhenjun, these words are just not wanting to pursue and make things complicated.
After all, Xuancan Zhenjun, as the oldest Yuanying cultivator around, is nearly 1,100 years old. He has always acted cautiously and would not take risks easily.
The reason for tracking before was that he suspected that the target was a cultivator below the Nascent Soul stage, seeking resources for forming a Nascent Soul. It was just that his supernatural powers were outstanding, and he had a special pet to assist him, so he suffered a loss.
"Although that person succeeded in forcing the transaction, fellow Daoist Heihe did not suffer a loss."
"The transaction item that person gave was enough to buy [Spring Withered Vine]. He should not be an evil cultivator, and he does not want to be an enemy of Sang Country."
Xuancan Zhenjun stroked his beard and smiled lightly, and he became somewhat interested in the mysterious cultivator who threatened Heihe Fort and forced a transaction.
In addition, there was a trace of fear.
During the previous tracking process, he practiced "Xuancan Jiuming Pian" and emerged with an intuition of fate sensing: if he continued to pursue, the danger was unpredictable.
...
Three years later.
A middle-aged man with a sallow complexion, dusty and introverted, stepped into the sphere of influence of the Dandao League.
"After more than six years of travel, I finally arrived at the final destination."
Lu Changan exhaled slowly, his whole body was full of mana, and the Changqing Jindan was dead silent, but in fact it had been condensed to the extreme.
Three months ago, Lu Changan was 379 years old, and his cultivation had basically reached the peak of the late Jindan stage.
In the past six years, Lu Changan has traveled around most of the cultivation areas in the Central Region as a traveling merchant.
During this period, he was not limited to buying and selling, and occasionally accepted commissions to accumulate good deeds and eliminate evil.
Killing ghosts, eliminating monsters, suppressing bandits, fortune-telling... things that can earn rewards and resources.
Compared with the hard practice in the sect, the life of traveling is more colorful, and you can meet all kinds of cultivators or other creatures.
In this process, there are insights and precipitation, and there are also unexpected gains.
Among them, the wood-type infant spirit "Spring withered vine" is the biggest surprise of this trip.
"Now that we have arrived at the Dandao League, you should also take a good rest."
Lu Changan was at ease, and a gust of invisible breeze swept over his body, and also swept over the green-armored guards and yellow-haired local dogs on the left and right.
The dusty air on the three of them dissipated.
Lu Changan put away the box behind him, as if he had washed away all the makeup, his whole body was light and agile, his mind was peaceful, and he was not surprised by honor or disgrace.
Di Yanjun and the Qingjia puppet bowed to their master, and the light flashed and was put away by Lu Changan.
On the last journey, Lu Changan flew alone to the hinterland of the Dandao League.
The Dandao League is composed of nine fragmented immortal cultivation countries.
Among them, there are four immortal cultivation countries with Yuanying forces, and their strength is similar to that of Liang State, or even stronger.
The strength of the other five countries is about the same as that of Jing State in the East Region of Daqing.
Each of these large and small immortal cultivation countries is inconspicuous in the Central Region, but the "Dandao League" formed together is a neutral force that cannot be ignored in the Central Region of Dayuan.
There are many alchemy sects in this area, and the alchemy heritage is brilliant and long. There are many cultivators outside the Central Region who come to entrust alchemy.
Lu Changan is one of them.
Nine years ago, at the Yuanying Exchange Conference in Yuntian Fairy City, he reached an agreement with Master Le to refine a genuine infant pill.
This is the last link of Lu Changan's Yuanying Road after many years of traveling in the Central Region.